Eurostar Trains Halted By Fire Outside Paris

Eurostar services were stopped for a short time on Monday due to fire next to the track, as the train operator struggled to get back to normal after a weekend of disruptions.

A blaze close to the tracks in a Paris suburb forced firefighters to close the line, stopping all trains travelling into Paris' Gare Du Nord.

Services resumed after the fire was brought under control and passengers were allowed to board services for London.

Eurostar and Eurotunnel (Paris: FR0010533075 - news) , which operates car transport and freight services, had hoped things would get back to something like normal on Monday after some final repairs on damage done in the north tunnel over the weekend.

Thousands of passengers on the services were left stranded on Saturday after a lorry fire stopped services.

Spokesman John O'Keefe said a "smouldering load" was found in the trailer of the lorry.

No one was injured but the incident led to long queues at London St Pancras station, as well as in Paris and Brussels.

Travel woes piled up on Sunday, with a separate electrical problem forcing the tunnel to shut for two hours.

Before the fire outside Paris, Eurotunnel said there were delays of about an hour on services from the UK and 30 minutes from France. Eurostar was warning trains could be delayed by up to an hour.

Up-to-the-minute updates can be found on the Eurostar and Eurotunnel Twitter accounts.